(03-05-2016 05:28 PM)ELK12695 Wrote: In view of recent events, in which I don't think I need to mention at this point, it has been interesting in manner of speaking to see how closely knitted this forum community is. I can hardly say I would have expected such unification three years ago when people were still getting to know eachother. And while I am on that subject, I thought it would be nice to let people explain how they first met, talked and made friends with the people on this forum, dispite it being on the internet; makes for a good read and hopefully a feelgood experience.

As usual, I'll start and let others carry on. I've picked two members I consider good friends and that I talk to on an every day basis.

First off is TheGulegon. Although I can probably trace back the first forum encounter, that would ruin the story. Basically, I posted some of the metal bands I like in the "What are you listening to?" thread: Not sure if it was Slayer, Anthrax, Megadeth; could have been anything. But the more I posted, the more positive responses I got from a "TheGulegon" with a demon as his avatar. From there, rep and PM's were exchanged around how awesome the main riff in "Keep it in the Family" by Anthrax was, and how much an asshole Lars Ulrich is. Gulegon was the first forum member I could have a conversation with on Skype for hours, just me and him around whatever nerdy subjects, such as listening to St. Anger together and agreeing on how fucking terrible it is. Although Gulegon seems to be a lot more busy these days, I talk to him every time I can about the casual subjects. Great guy(but he needs to grow his hair FFS).

Second is fairly obvious, a certain Revenant77x who joined the forum a few hours after me. Our first correspondence was... well it was a nightmare, one that we consider to be like anything "after" Terminator 2 Judgement Day; non-existent. Our first real encounter was in a group call with Escape Artist, where we both talked to EA about an issue that is up her to explain to anybody. After that call ended there was a little empty skype talk, untill I ran into a classic problem. I play a lot of Fallout: New Vegas. Fallout: New Vegas is very glitchy. Rev has played a lot more Fallout: New Vegas than I. So I got in a call with Rev where he tried to help me with a classic case of "Veronica's quest is a fucking broken sack of shit". Although he failed to fix the bug for me, he gave me the important lesson of doing Veronica's quest first to minimize glitches, and I have always done so since. After that, we talked more about pretty much anything on Skype. And when it slipped out of Rev that he was a pro-wrestling guru, he hasn't had a moment of peace ever since, where I don't rant about how fucking crazy Vince McMahon is, and him replying "What the hell did you expect?". A truly good friend I would never trade off.

I would talk about cjlr and Smercury aswell, but they're seemingly very busy ATM, and I'm kinda too stupid to remember my first talks with them. There's also another I would talk of in great detail; if he was here on the forum. But since he's not, and that he hates public affection, I'll leave him out. Apologies.

Now it's your turn to write and feel really embarrassed afterwards.

I still haven't found a way to have The Great Southern Trendkill playing in the background of a skype call without it causing us to involuntarily transform into our 80's-metalhead-forms. Rough being wererockers, eh?
The Gulez might have some time coming up. We gotta voice call again, soon.

Among other people that I speak to from time to time, the person from the forum that I’m closest with is Tartarus Sauce. It was our shared heritage and background that got us talking in the first place, but it’s any number of topics that keeps us talking. Tartarus broke down my walls and I let him get close to me. A decision I’ve been grateful for from the moment I let him in.

I had signed up for Skype in the event that I actually (gasps) made some friends on this forum to talk to, and about a month after Tartarus and I started chatting, he noted that I still only had one person on my contacts list; obviously it was him. He called me out on it and asked if I was just logging into Skype every day for his benefit.

I came here 'cos of the laugh at religion thread. Stayed for Buddy Christ's Bible summary - still one of my favourite threads, still causing believers to flip out. Mr Woof was one of my early contacts. Hope that codger is doing OK. Anjele was another, KingsChosen joined a few weeks after me... We gave him a hard time at first, really poked him with a stick. His intro thread is still around somewhere... Stark. Lucradis... Erxy... some good fellas. Lady Jane. Kim... DLJ... Deep Thought. Us what's been here a while knows each other. Hah. Earmuffs. There's way too many people to mention by name.

I know people drift in and out of the forum a lot but this place has really felt like a good place to me... I'll probably still be here even years more down the line.

We'll love you just the way you are
If you're perfect -- Alanis Morissette

(06-02-2014 03:47 PM)Momsurroundedbyboys Wrote: And I'm giving myself a conclusion again from all the facepalming.

In terms of people I talk to outside of here, Losty is the person I chat with the most. I think she and I started talking when I repped her.

I'm friends with a handful of people here on Facebook (Losty, Chas, Anjele, RocketSurgeon, Erx, Girly, and KC), and also some people from AtheistForums. We usually comment via likes and comments on posts rather than IMs.

GoodWithoutGod and I haven't talked outside of the forum, but he and I used to chat via PM for a while. I think that all started when I made a thread involving Tay Sachs, and I wanted to make sure I wasn't being overly insensitive.

Alla and I used to talk a bit via PM when she first joined. I think we started chatting when I realized she is Mormon, which made everything we'd talked about in the threads make a lot more sense. We haven't really chatted much since she left. While we don't agree on much theologically speaking, I think we're still amicable.

(03-05-2016 10:46 PM)Aliza Wrote: Among other people that I speak to from time to time, the person from the forum that I’m closest with is Tartarus Sauce. It was our shared heritage and background that got us talking in the first place, but it’s any number of topics that keeps us talking. Tartarus broke down my walls and I let him get close to me. A decision I’ve been grateful for from the moment I let him in.

I had signed up for Skype in the event that I actually (gasps) made some friends on this forum to talk to, and about a month after Tartarus and I started chatting, he noted that I still only had one person on my contacts list; obviously it was him. He called me out on it and asked if I was just logging into Skype every day for his benefit.

Busted. Of course, I was.

Tarty's an awesome person - I mean, cat! And one of the first folks here on TTA to make me feel welcome. You chose well, Aliza.

As for other folks, I seem to recall DLJ saying that I might just be weird enough to fit in here, but it took me a bit before I felt like a part of the community. Rev had a lot to do with that, as he invited me to play Mafia or things like that. Also ELK had a hand in encouraging me to join Skype. Gulegon appreciated my love of Soundgarden iirc. Those are some of my earliest memories here.

So glad I found this place as it lead me to Rev - a wonderful man who is better to me than I often feel I deserve. And it introduced me to all of you other crazy lot who continue to defy the stereotypes that Christians and other religious folk have of us atheists. Y'all are some of the most generous, kind-hearted, and passionate people I know. And I know that if (when!) I come here for advice, I will be comforted for whatever trouble or pain I might be in but I will also be told the truth and given perspective on my situation even if it might pain me to learn those things.

Other member names that come to mind when I think of TTA: Losty (you continue to earn my admiration for your strength and perseverance through difficult times while still being one of the sweetest people I know), FreeThought (you are way too hard on yourself to the point you don't see what an awesome person you really are - I always learn something new from you), Nurse (the always-fashionable and very smart southern lady), Jasozz, grizzlysnake, Adrianime, smercury44, fellow Texan Anjele , Chas (I especially felt comforted by your words to me when I lost my father too soon), Dom (when you said that being orphaned is difficult no matter how old you are when it happens, that really resonated with me and I knew you truly understood my pain - thank you), eek there are so many names and I know I must be forgetting one (or more!) people.

Damn this thread for making me all sentimental. Love you godless bastards too much for my own good.

The first and only member I've spoken with here was Jennybee. We spoke regularly for a couple of weeks, but that waned as we each were involved in our own things. She's a good gal and I'm glad to have "met" her.

Other than that, I'm not much the subject of interest when it comes to other members, it seems, so I keep to myself for the most part, occasionally getting personal in my posts but generally sticking to topical discussions. I'm usually open about my personal life, even online, but don't feel comfortable belaboring folks by pushing my way into a conversation that's clearly between folks who are much closer.

I would look back to my first post but the thought of how cringeworthy it probably was scares me lol. Few names I remember off the bat are Smerc, Losty, and Gulg. Never really "talked" to anyone on the forum with my voice. Reminds me though last month was 2 years here for me. Wow.

"If you keep trying to better yourself that's enough for me. We don't decide which hand we are dealt in life, but we make the decision to play it or fold it" - Nishi Karano Kaze

My first "real" conversation was with Q. I saw he was making some silly statements about how he determined that noah's flood really happened because we couldn't go back thousands of years to do an accurate study on it. I stepped in and tried to explain calmly how he was wrong. But much of it had fallen on deaf ears.

But other members started to like my comments, which I didn't really get in the RW. I felt accepted.

Don't Live each day like it's your last. Live each day like you have 541 days after that one where every choice you make will have lasting implications to you and the world around you. ~ Tim Minchin